Spoiler Alert! Recap and Review: HOMELAND's Carrie Finds Her Sanity; Quinn Loses His in 'Shalwar Kameez'

NOTE TO READER: This is not a traditional recap, instead my Spoiler Alert! columns will serve as a more in depth critical review of specific episodes and shows as a whole. That being typed, I will discuss what happened in the most recent episode, so be forewarned; the name of the column is "Spoiler Alert!" after all. I always invite your participation in the discussion, so please feel free to leave comments below, or to reach out on Twitter @BWWMatt, just do me a favor and keep it civil, ok? Dar Adal would want it that way.

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I don't want to get too carried away, but this week's HOMELAND actually felt a bit like the HOMELAND of old. Now, it didn't have the intrigue of the early Brody days, but it did have an exceptionally stable and competent Carrie, emotions that make sense in the context of the greater story, and the hints of a great conspiracy afoot.

Let's start with what may (but probably won't) end up being an incredibly impressive prediction in the coming weeks. With the revelation that the attack on the SUV carrying Quinn, Carrie, and Sandy at the end of last week's first hour was coordinated by a man wearing a com-ear piece, and the previous knowledge that Sandy was trading intelligence for the location of high-value targets, I am starting to question whether or not Corey Stoll is actually the new Sean Bean or not.

If Quinn and Carrie are right, and the man orchestrating Sandy's "attack" was Pakistani Intelligence, is it possible that this was, in fact, a high-profile exfiltration (I learned that word on THE AMERICANS)? That would set up a pretty compelling mission for Carrie and company to play out for the rest of this season. Showtime only sent out screeners for the first three episodes, so I have no inside information beyond this week's hour, but remember, the creators of HOMELAND are formerly of 24, where death had about as much meaning as what Carrie tells her sister about wanting to be a mother.

Ok, now more onto this week's episode. How nice was it to see Carrie actually being competent at her job? With all of the ridiculous machinations of the past two+ seasons, it is easy to forget just why Saul said that she was "the smartest and the dumbest f*cking person" he'd ever known! Well, to be fair, we saw plenty of evidence of the "dumbest" part when it came to Brody, but this week, we saw Carrie skillfully evade a tail in order to get to her double-secret outpost where Farra and Max were working on their British accents; put a drunk, disgruntled, and misogynistic Deputy Station Chief in his place; and skillfully begin the recruiting process of Aayan.

Hopefully Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa remember that this type of intrigue is what the show was originally supposed to be about; a real-life, plausible 24. I have no idea if this is how CIA Station Chiefs act in the real world, but the expert way which Carrie approached the drama of the week seemed as believable as anything we've seen in a long time on this show. Her rational, measured (dare I say sane) approach made her tearing up as Quinn agreed to join her merry band of spooks, that much more touching. It wasn't the outbursts of a crazy person, it was the honest emotions of someone who got what she wanted.

Quinn's reaction was quite the opposite, however. Throughout the episode, we saw him struggle to control his actions and emotions, while occasionally giving into the default, darker side of who he has become. Quinn is repeatedly haunted by the memories of what he saw, and did, in that SUV last week.

Despite the disturbing images, over the last two episodes, we have seen Quinn develop a very sweet relationship with his landlady, played by Emily Walker. Though she eventually realized that Quinn's dangerous, mysterious aura was an occupational hazard, she provided him with an opportunity to create, albeit temporarily, some semblance of a normal life, something he desperately wanted.

Quinn did everything he could to move on from his life in the CIA; he tried to play the game with the agency's shrink in an exit interview and he ignored Dar Adal's phone calls, all of which made it even more disappointing when he again snapped, first at his former boss, and then at the one woman who accepted him as he was.

Whether it actually was PTSD or, as Dar Adal suspected, Quinn's feelings for Carrie, his desperation to leave the agency was palpable. So when Carrie talks him into returning, and then punctuates it by saying, "God, I f*cking love you, Quinn. You know that don't you?", your heart breaks right along with his. He knows that he is going to end up sacrificing his own emotional stability to, again, come to the aid of Carrie, the company's craziest agent.

Though it was brief, it was also nice to see Carrie and Saul sharing a cordial moment. So many of their recent interactions have been fraught with suspicion and animosity. There was such obvious pride on both sides of the table when Saul was able to predict Carrie's moves, because, after all, he did teach her everything she knows. The smile plastered across Carrie's face was encouraging; hopefully there will be more Saul-Carrie fun time as the season progresses.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...
1) Did Carrie go the intersection where Sandy was "killed" to look for clues as to the identity of his dark asset, or to prove to Quinn that she still had a tiny shred of humanity left?
2) The look in Quinn's eyes as he was choking out Dar Adal was truly terrifying. Could that be a sign of things to come when he is back in the field next week?
3) That terrible jazz underscoring from last week was back, this time as Carrie ran. Please, can't you find some Miles Davis to use instead?

Quotes of the Night
1) "Yea, as long as they don't kill me, I'll be happy... joke." Quinn had a moment of honesty, then quickly course-corrected, when his landlord/lover asked about whether he would get a good recommendation from his former employer.
2) "God, I f*cking love you, Quinn. You know that don't you?" The aforementioned quote effectively ended the episode. Though those are likely the words that Quinn is most longing to hear, in this situation, they seem to as painful as anything else he's been through recently.

Check out a sneak peek at next week's episode titled 'Iron in the Fire' below:

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So, what do you think? Could Sandy still be alive? Could he be the traitor that Brody was never able to be? Let me know what you think in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. Also, don't forget to follow @BWWTVWorld on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for all of the latest TV news, reviews, and recaps.

Photo Credit:
1) Nazanin Boniadi, Claire Danes, Maury Sterling | Joe Alblas | FX
2) Claire Danes | Joe Alblas | FX
3) Mandy Patinkin and Claire Danes | Joe Alblas | FX

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